Belarusian Foreign Ministry Reminds Russia about Agreements on the WTO Accession

28.04.2010 11:09
Архив Редакция

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, commenting on a statement of Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov, that Russia intends to access the WTO itself, reminded about the agreement of Customs Union's member-countries on the synchronization of accession to the WTO process. "There is an agreement at the highest level on synchronization of WTO accession process", Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrei Savinykh, said.

According to the ministry’s representative, as of today «this approach is implemented in practice», Interfax reports.

The presidents of the Customs Union’s member-countries to decide themselves how to access the WTO, Shuvalov

The decision about whether to join the WTO together or separately, will be taken by the presidents of the three member countries of the Customs Union — Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, first deputy prime minister of the Russian federation, Igor Shuvalov, said on April 27. According to the deputy head of the government of Russia, the final choice may be made in July, Prime-Tass informs.

«For the present, we have a considered opinion that we’ll seek the membership on the same terms and at the same time», the first deputy prime minister — who headed Russian delegation to the inter-ministerial talks on WTO in Washington — said. «If the presidents decide otherwise, then we’ll implement another scenario».

As Telegraf previously reported, on April 27 in Washington, Igor Shuvalov stated that Russia intends to continue the process of accession to the WTO outside the frames of the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. «Russia firstly intends to access the World Trade Organization itself, and then create a common market within the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan», he said.

According to Igor Shuvalov, Russia to complete the formalities for its membership separately. «It’ll be useful for everybody if Russia becomes a WTO member before we create a common market with Kazakhstan and Belarus», the deputy head of Russian government said.

Как вам новость?